Hey, life!
Thank you for giving me power to change things I’m able to change!
Thank you for giving me weakness to accept things I’m not able to change!
Thank you for giving me wisdom to tell the ones from the others.
I appreciate that!
Thanks!

Ma vie, bonjour!
Je suis gratuit pour la puissance de changer les choses je peux changer!
Je suis gratuit pour la faiblesse de pas changer les choses je ne peux pas changer!
Je te remercie pour la sagesse de las différencier!
Merci beaucoup!
Merci!

Mi vida, ¡hola!
¡Gracias por el fuerte de cambiar las cosas qué yo puedo cambiar!
¡Gracias por la flaqueza de no cambiar las cosas qué yo no puedo cambiar!
¡Gracias por la sabiduría qué yo les puedo diferenciar!
¡Yo te agradezco mucho!
¡Gracias!

What do both a victim and a manipulator feel in such situations of gaslighting could be studied by various brave school psychologists and outrageous psychiatrists, the results should be published in popular and scientific books and spoken publicly.

Mr. March, a teacher of English, tried a couple of times to be a gaslighter pursuing solely educational purposes. For instance, once he came to a class for the second time and tried to persuade his students that it was their first time they had met. Gracefully his students didn’t believe him because there were twenty of them and Mr. March is an inferior actor, not an excellent teacher. For sure, Mr. March did it to gently introduce students the topic they were going to discuss the following class. Students got the point, widely smiled at him, and Mr. March shatteringly failed to make a drama out of the situation. The next class Mr. March introduced students to a couple of cases on gaslighting in educational environment, they read and positionally discussed them. Students even made out a concept of dark empathetic behaviour.

Once (or even more—he still doesn’t know) Mr. March was a victim of a person who gaslighted him. He was told to come to two different schools in two different days, but the dates were mixed to confuse and make Mr. March eventually come to a wrong school. What of course he successfully did. His reality was faked because he obviously saw with his own eyes that all of the rest—about ten people—were in the right school but only Mr. March got the address and date wrong. It was made with purpose to get control over a victim by the boss he had. Also Mr. March felt guilty he framed his boss by getting the command wrong, by arriving not on time, also he felt shame publicly in front of a class full of students and those ten fairly innocent colleagues, who in fact also suffered from the manipulation. Twelve years later Mr. March still feels frustrated and writing this text about his case despite forcing him to go through that situation again in his thoughts made him feel a bit better.

Ten years later being an observer in the analogous situation Mr. March got the scheme. Only gracefully to the books he studied all by himself the teacher could eventually find out what he had been through. It made him stronger, however, and he learnt a lot from this toxic environment he eventually left.

What do you think:
Is it good or bad to be a gaslighter?
Is it bad or good to be a victim of that kind of manipulation?
Should a school or work environment be free from gaslighters?

Sept. 22, 2024

Mr. March is a character invented by his author—Mikhail Martynets—for his students during his work at a private school Vzletay in 2023. The initial idea was to make my students create avatars they can speak freely about. The aim was to make them produce speech in English since they lacked productive skills while having quite good abilities in listening and reading.

It was a project that wasn’t supported by the students. Their aims were a bit different from the teacher’s.

In 2024 the character was introduced to my students of English who voted for project-based learning, where the task—to write a book—was meant to help students reveal lexical and grammatical means to produce speech: orally and verbally. This approach continues the idea suggested by L.Vygotsky and his followers, and is daringly new for the students of higher education.

Wish me luck since I am doing this for the first time with novice to pre-intermediate students of English.

Sept. 14, 2024

Once a coin was lost. She, a nickel plated piece of metal, used to be among the change for a transfer experience for the banknote payed in a bus by her owner. She, a rouble neither in silver nor in gold, used to scratch a lottery ticket in hopes to win a fortune. She, a round shaped means of payment for any good or service out there, is to help her owner live their life. She might be lost for a bad reason of her owner or just because of their insufficient attention to their pocket of a coat the owner had been wearing in a cloudy day of the fall in Russia.

Finally the coin was found. Not by her owner themself but by a bypassing stranger. The stranger collects in a piggy bank all of the found desperate coins and the change he gets himself in few rare moments when he pays with banknotes. The stranger picked her up, promised her she would not be alone, and kept his word.

Now the coin has got a Purpose and lives among her peers in the money box in form of a cat’s head waiting for the Day. The Day when all of the coins will be made digital, multiplied by a coefficient, and invested happily with gratitude. They will be transferred for children to accomplish the Task: to live better lives. That’s what the ado of money as the Means of life is.

Nov. 03, 2024

There are people who understand memes popular among teens. At least, they try. Some people even risk being exposed as being incapable of communicating memes through teens’ cognitive abilities evaluate them as funny or not, adequate for the context they are used or not. Teens are quite open and willingly share their thoughts through speech on them. At least they try.

There are people who don’t understand memes. They underestimate the power of understanding teens and their cultures. However, teens appreciate those who do. The reason might be that people do have that misinterpreted language barrier when they lack cognitive abilities and mask it with ignorance of teens’ communication.

There are people either teens or adults who try to understand each other, and who don’t. Which side are you on?

Sept. 28, 2024

Some people love holidays. What a special day when December turns January! They enjoy creating special atmosphere around dates. They celebrate. They give and get presents. Some people don’t. What is special when one turns one year older? They don’t like spending time going out, either decorating trees as symbols of a coming yet another year.

Some people are somewhere in between: they choose carefully what, where and who to celebrate each holiday with, giving the other holidays a definite ‘no’ as the answer back for invitations; also they choose carefully who to invite not to steal a holiday.

From today’s lesson I’ve learnt that some holidays are nowadays banned in our country because of different reasons—it was truly surprising for me. It is odd to know that Halloween is banned in students’ dorms this year. Students who study English have become definitely poorer because of that. How would they practice some tricks and treats, though? Nevertheless, what would I do if I hadn’t such smart teachers who are aware of good traditions! I learnt two days when I can celebrate being a good servant for my cat. I happened to know there’s the day of the dead people. We rested in peace St.Valentine’s day as future teachers. Wow, what a great lesson!

I don’t want to be yet another killjoy, but what I definitely would not like to do is to come back to my past relationships. Whatever which: either work, or personal ones. Looking back I can see that toxic relationships need holidays. Whether the relationships are productive, constructive, and positive, one can have some dopamine injection somewhere in between. Thus any relationships become a hobby, a life style. If it’s a two-way street—like, job being a paid hobby giving one an image of the work worth doing—one is quite happy about their life.

When I was a child I used to love summer holidays. When I had summer holidays I could swim in a river or a sea, eat ice cream, sunbathe and go for a walk. When I grew up, I somehow got it: you can have summer holidays all year round if you have money. Nowadays I love money. To be unserious I actually do love winter holidays, all because I was born in January. I love to spend winter holidays somewhere where I can treat myself with sun, salted water, palms, blue sky, mango and endless happiness. Shouldn’t I celebrate my birthday in a paid summer when it’s a free winter, I’d do it in July when the winter in my home city is a bit greener and warmer than it is during chilly and white January.

A colour depends greatly on the model it is described in. There’s the RGB model: red, green and blue are basic colours for it. There’s the CMYK model: cyan, magenta, yellow and black are the fab four colours for it. There’re some other yet less popular models.

The complementary ability is really marvellous about colours. I prefer to mix colours by their hue and contrast. One of the classical combination is black and white. A good teacher’s choice. There are more vivid combinations found in nature like red and green, orange and blue, yellow and violet. A smart teacher’s choice of a person who pretends to be modern and up-to-date.

The last time I mixed colours was this morning: I carefully chose what to wear. As a designer, I deal with colours every day. I have designed the logo of my personal brand. I use an app on my iPhone that selects five colours that go well together and suggests them providing their codes in two models mentioned above. I believe the colours I have selected reflect best what I wanted to keep as the senses in my logo.

Arts can exist in various forms: music, literature, sculpture, paintings, etc.

There are people who love arts. People can either create or contemplate arts. There are composers, writers, sculptors, painters, etc. There are listeners and singers in a shower, readers of books, amateurs of sculptures, and painters.

There are people who don’t love arts. People can’t either create or contemplate arts. They don’t compose or listen to music, they don’t write or read books, they don’t sculpt or enjoy watching sculptures, they don’t draw or look at paintings, etc.

As for me, I love logotypes, both—creating and contemplating. A logotype is such a form that embraces contents it should keep in a witty image.

There are people who like spending their free time actively. They do sports, walk outside, meet people, etc. They don’t imagine spending their leisure time passively.

There are people who enjoy spending their spare time passively. They watch TV, read books, listen to music, etc. They can’t imagine spending their leisure time actively.

There are people who respect other people’s choices on how they should spend their free time. There are people who don’t. And there are people who can tell the ones from the others.

There are people who like watching films. Among popular genres they watch comedies, dramas and horror movies. Comedies are loved because of humour. Dramas show real-life relationships between people so they can observe some patterns of positive and negative communication.

There are people who don’t like watching movies. Horror films are hated because of scary events. People are usually tired of those happening in real life. Sometimes comedies are hated because some people think of them as of stupid and not worth watching.

There are people who feel ok to be hired. They feel much more comfortable to get tasks and complete them. Some of them are not too much creative so working at a manufacture of goods and services is quite normal to them. Some of these jobs however require some creativity, for instance, teaching.

There are people who don’t like working under a boss. They prefer to be freelancers and entrepreneurs. These professions require much more creativity because the tasks that are faced by these people are usually not trivial. Private teachers are among these professions, because one who has chosen such a career should fullfill the demands of each individual student.

Having a superhero is crucial for teens. In my opinion, when the admiration a teen shows towards their heroes, when the support a teen gives towards their favourite stars, when the love a teen feels towards the people of their culture interiorises a young adult becomes ready to show admiration, to give support, to feel love towards themselves, and begins doing this when they are adults to themselves and people who surround them.

There are people who do admire superheroes, like Spider Man or Deadpool. They are excited with their abilities and superpowers. They want to have these superpowers, maybe to level their shortcomings.

There are people who don’t like having a superhero. They don’t believe in super abilities. They think they are already superheroes because they do their job perfectly on a daily basis.

Otherwise, the absence of a superhero in a teen’s life leads to lack of admiration, support, and love they could possibly share with others being adults.

Have you ever tried to sleep more or less than usual? Have you ever tracked your sleep? Have you ever wondered how your productivity is influenced by your sleep?

There are people who don’t like spending time asleep. They shift eight hours their bodies need to have some rest—physically and mentally. Researches show that sleeping is crucial for being productive all day long.

There are people who enjoy having good night rest and sleep. They do understand that it leads to excellent performance during the day. Some of those people have tried not to sleep and seen the results of their experiments.

It’s up to you to decide whether to sleep or not to sleep.

Would you like to become famous?
Would you rather be unknown?

There are people who are famous. There are those who are known for their talents in professional life. They might be different in personal life. There are those who are famous for their talentless in personal life. They might be different in professional life. Those who are talented in both spheres can be considered positively balanced.

There are people who aren’t famous. There are those who are unknown for their talents in professional life. They might not be different in personal life. There are those who are infamous for their talentless in personal life. They might not be different in professional life. Those who are not talented in both spheres can be considered negatively balanced.

Michaella Martovskaya is neither famous nor unknown. She is famous as a person who is an alter ego of an unknown yet a real person and who isn’t known for being famous among people who don’t exist in reality. She is never on stage while her alter ego is a public figure. She is a damn best teacher a student can have — but he who hides her inside is a student himself.

Some people leave behind their lives just a dash between two dates. The others are being remembered for centuries. Which side would you like to be for yourself and others?

Do you like reading? Why (not)?

There are people who are bookworms. They grab a book, descend to an attic and dive into an imaginary world created by it’s author. Those people keep reading all their lives, sometimes escaping from the real world and feeling ultimate freedom.

There are people who aren’t into reading books. They prefer living in their reality: study the learn, job the work, play bridge, be car dealers, be kind and supportive as honey, yell and shout at children as trunchbulls, etc. Those people refuse escaping from the real world created by them exclusively for them.

Which book would (not) you recommend me to read? Why (yep)?

Which former animal are you?

There are people who’re like animals. Some of them are wild: tigers, lions, scorpions. Some of them are domestic: cats, dogs, rabbits. They can beat, run, or freeze.

There are people who aren’t like animals. Some of them are children who behave capriciously or obediently. Even being old they don’t want to take responsibility but they want a big ice cream. Some of them are parents who support or control. Even being young they want everyone to shut their mouths and eat soup. And some of them are adults. They can be predators and herbivores, mammals and pap-pals.

Do you maintain your physical health?
What about mental health?

There are people who look carefully after their health. They eat healthy food and drink pure water. They neither drink alcohol nor smoke cigarettes. They do check ups every year. Those include visiting psychologists and maintaining mental health. These people have a good night’s sleep, walk outside at least an hour a day, don’t ignore having enough rest and put aside their gadgets.

There are people who don’t look carefully after their health. They eat junk food and don’t drink enough water. They drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, or even both. They don’t do check ups every year. They ignore sleeping well, they don’t go outside for walks, they scroll social media all the time. Some of them prioritise work and are workaholics.

Which side of taking care of yourself—physically and mentally—are you at? Why?

Do you like studying? Why (not)?

There are people who like going to school. They learn a lot of interesting facts and become good learners. After finishing school they use their skills to study successfully at colleges and universities. These skills are used by them when they graduate and start working.

Lifelong learning is a trend nowadays, and people who can study are more successful as workers of any field.

There are people who don’t like going to school. They don’t learn a lot of interesting facts and become bad learners. After finishing school they can’t use their skills to study at colleges and universities. These skills aren’t used by them when they graduate and start working.

Don’t you like to study? Why not?

Do you like Christmas? Why (not)?

There are people who like Christmas. For them it’s a special day of the year when they can spend time with their families and friends. They give and get presents. They cook special dishes. They celebrate and enjoy happiness.

There are people who don’t like Christmas. For them it’s not a special day of the year when they can spend time with their families and friends. They don’t give and get presents. They don’t cook special dishes. They don’t celebrate and enjoy happiness.

Which side of Christmas are you?

I’m not into sports, neither to do by myself nor to watch on TV. However I try my best to maintain vigorous shape by doing some exercises every morning and walking about twelve thousand steps a day. It’s a true pleasure to walk: I passionately believe there’s a connection between cognitive abilities and walking outside. I have already interiorised my working desk into my brain and watch fab ideas come to my mind while I’m walking.

I think that a well-paid hobby is one’s ideal job. As for me, I consider a hobby to be a good thing to balance any work. I truly enjoy reading books, I’ve been reading since my early childhood. Besides, every month I share a postcard with a random person around the globe and luckily receive a card from another random person. I also fancy travelling, either inside or outside the country I live in mostly because it broadens the horizons of my feelings and thoughts on people and places of our unique and common blue planet.

My family consists of just two of us: my lovely and respectful partner we’ve been sharing our lives for more than ten years. Both we are educated by our cat to be the best servants a cat can get. We consider ourselves happy having both of our parents alive. I’m also honoured to have my grandpa enjoying his life among us. For me, a family is a very important thing in one’s life because it forms a parent—child relationship. Without it it would be impossible to become an adult.

As it was clearly said during the lesson, and now it’s been clearly written that my favourite film is ‘Inception’ by C.Nolan since I enjoy doing such things-in-things in the real world. One has been done right today when my former teachers had organised and not surprisingly well realised the game with us—their future students. During their performance I was keeping in mind that those teachers already are inside the game which I had organised, so it was a double game to play today. What a stacking doll have I experienced today, I truly and heartily appreciate it!

I’m a good singer. I sing silently some of my favourite songs—among which are Perfect by Ed Sheeran, Englishman in New York by Sting, I’m Still Standing by Elton John and many others—while I’m listening to them in my headphones. I’m good because I never show that I can sing. If I showed that I can sing I would instantly become a bad singer, and I don’t want that kind of fame.

I like food to be simple yet delicious. This is considered to be homemade food. I prefer meat and veggies. I cook and bake myself. I’ve been cooking since I was a kid, I can say it’s my hobby, actually. I usually prefer to eat at home but there’re several times a year when I eat out. Sometimes when we travel I like to keep myself away from cooking and baking but to be into eating out every day to try local food and drinks. We usually choose one good place to eat every day and select various places with some sort of cuisine for special occasions.

My teacher once asked me as their student: “What is a family for you?”

For me, a family is a very important thing in one’s life because it forms a parent—child relationship. I’m pretty happy to have seen both—supportive and critical parents. Sometimes I think they don’t know each other while it should be one parent in two bodies. Without knowing it, it would be impossible to become an adult.

In mid-October 2023 I wrote an essay on this topic for the contest at University I’m studying at. I didn’t win, however I took part in the contest.

I enjoy travelling both inside and outside my country. Travelling helps me know different people and cultures. I can touch local cuisine and foreign languages. I wish I visited as many countries as I only could!

I like cats and have got one. The members of my family—there’re two of us—are being petted by our cat. I’m extremely excited to have a cat in my life!

I truly believe that a sense of humour reflects one’s intelligence. A good joke can make one’s day happier and brighter. From today’s lesson I learnt that there’re jokes that are made of the play of the words, I’m not quite sure how this phenomenon is called correctly (UPD: it’s called ‘a pun’, thanks, Lucy!). At the end of the lesson my teachers asked me to write a joke about me. Here it is. Sometimes I think that I’m the reason of the drowning of the Titanic. Thanks for the lesson!

I have already written about my favourite songs. There are dozens of them, actually. I’m not too fastidious. Usually I just put on my headphones, turn on the internet radio and let the AI make me happy (that Happy by P.Williams is one of the songs that makes me happy).

As for my fav genres I can add that I prefer listening to various music: pop, rock, jazz, classical. There are only two criteria I use to choose from: it should be modern and foreign. However it can be classical and made in my country I was born in.

As for music I can say that I’m a listener not performer. This side of creativity is out of my control. Yet.

What is a teacher like? If a student really wants to know something, a teacher is
almost helpless.

To begin with, it might seem it's utterly sinless to be a child: you can trust adults
undisputedly. My teacher of English used to be my Miss Honey. It was she, who
influenced my perspective. She understood that the school I attended back in
1988 lacked in resources to provide me with my sideline—I was and still am fond
of computers. Only she had known where I could find what I capriciously needed.

However, it is extremely wicked to be a child! Adults control and support you.
Few of them are really interested in what a child indeed wants. What if you are
too young to become an adult? What if you are not fit to be in charge of your
own life?

On the other hand, it is perfectly virtuous to be an adult. You can choose either
to have your own children or teach others’. Few can balance the scales with jars
of honey and bulls. My parents used to be my first teachers; I will abidingly
appreciate that. I’m happy to have absorbed both models: a supportive mother
and a controlling daddy.

Nevertheless, it is sadly careless to be an adult. You are the one to manage your
life. Lucky you if you have your own children and, if you are a teacher, you have
a plethora of others’ children you are in charge of. What if you are still a child
being a teacher? What if you cannot support your own children while bullying
others’?

Balancing between child, capricious or obedient, and parent, supportive or
controlling, is crucial for each teacher. Thus, one can show a student a role model
of an adult. I truly believe: an adult, who can weigh personal and professional
commitments, is nowadays being demanded from a teacher as a significant
other for each student.

18.11.2023, конкурсное эссе — WriteSmart ИИЯ МГПУ